1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge head that discharges liquid, such as ink, to perform recording and a flexible printed circuit board available for the liquid discharge head.
2. Description of the Related Art
An inkjet recording head (hereinafter, referred to as a “recording head”) is known as a liquid discharge head.
As for the generally known structure of such a recording head, the recording head includes a recording element substrate that includes an array of discharge ports (hereinafter, referred to as a “discharge port array”) through which ink is discharged and energy generating elements, arranged so as to correspond to the respective discharge ports, for discharging the ink.
The recording head includes a contact portion electrically connected to the main body of an inkjet recording apparatus in order to receive an electrical signal and electric power used for driving the energy generating elements from the main body of the apparatus. FIGS. 4A and 4B each illustrate an example of the known structure of a recording head 101 in which a recording element substrate 102 is disposed on the bottom surface of the recording head 101 and a contact portion 106 including a plurality of contact pads is disposed on one side surface substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2006-297826 and 2004-050636 each disclose a recording head having such a structure.
The use of an electrical printed circuit board having flexibility, namely, a flexible printed circuit board 103 is effective for electrical connection between the contact portion 106 and the recording element substrate 102 which are disposed on the different surfaces of the housing of the recording head 101.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-344638, the flexible printed circuit board is typically manufactured such that the flexible printed circuit board is stamped out from a base material or is cut out from the base material with a slicer or a laser.
A reduction in area of the above-described flexible printed circuit board in order to increase the number of flexible printed circuit boards cut out from the base material is effective in reducing the manufacturing cost of the recording head.
The structure of FIG. 4B in which the recording element substrate 102 is connected to one end of the flexible printed circuit board 103 is more preferable than the structure of FIG. 4A in which the recording element substrate 102 is disposed in an opening of the flexible printed circuit board 103 so that the recording element substrate 102 is electrically connected to the flexible printed circuit board 103. Because the length of the flexible printed circuit board 103 can be shortened. Accordingly, the area of the flexible printed circuit board 103 can be reduced by an amount corresponding to the reduction in length of the flexible printed circuit board 103.
Even when the area of the flexible printed circuit board 103 is reduced, however, a wasted portion is provided, as shown in FIG. 4B, upon manufacturing the flexible printed circuit board. Disadvantageously, it is difficult to reduce the manufacturing cost of the flexible printed circuit board. Unfortunately, it is difficult to cut down the manufacturing cost of the recording head.